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Sapphire Egemasi, a Nigerian tech enthusiast and programmer, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with a large-scale fraud scheme targeting multiple U.S. government agencies.
Egemasi, who maintains a presence on the developer platform Devpost, was taken into custody around April 10, 2025, in the Bronx, New York. She was arrested alongside other alleged co-conspirators, including Samuel Kwadwo Osei, whom the FBI identifies as the suspected leader of the syndicate.
The arrests follow a federal grand jury indictment issued in 2024, charging the group with multiple counts of internet fraud and money laundering. The alleged criminal activities are said to have occurred between September 2021 and February 2023.
According to federal prosecutors, Egemasi and her Ghanaian co-defendants conspired to defraud the state of Kentucky out of millions of dollars. Investigators allege that Egemasi played a key technical role, developing spoof websites that mimicked official U.S. government domains. These sites were reportedly used to harvest login credentials and redirect stolen funds.
Prior to her arrest, Egemasi was reportedly based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, though authorities believe she previously resided in Ghana, where she is thought to have formed connections with members of the fraud ring.
She allegedly acted as the syndicate’s technical lead, overseeing the creation of fake websites and coordinating the transfer of illicit funds into accounts controlled by the group.
Evidence cited in the indictment includes text message records from August 2022, which prosecutors say show the syndicate rerouted $965,000 stolen from Kentucky into a PNC Bank account. In another transaction around the same time, $330,000 was allegedly funneled into a Bank of America account.
To conceal the source of her wealth, Egemasi allegedly claimed to have worked in various roles—mostly internships—at multinational companies such as British Petroleum (BP), H&M, and Zara.
Known online as the “Tech Queen,” Egemasi cultivated a polished digital persona, particularly on LinkedIn, where she showcased her technical skills and promoted a glamorous lifestyle. On social media, she frequently posted photos from luxury vacations to destinations such as Greece and Portugal—trips that prosecutors now claim were funded through the proceeds of fraud.
